What happened: Only around 100 peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms will survive the Chinese market, according to Zhou Hao, chief marketing officer at Fenghuang Finance. This is largely due to the companies’ own shortcomings and Beijing’s crackdown on risky lending. Zhou said the surviving platforms would manage RMB 1 trillion ($145 billion) in capital needs. More than 5,000 P2P platforms have been shut down in an ongoing investigation by Beijing. Just 1,200 remained by the end of November.

Why it’s important: Beijing’s investigation will bring increased regulation and higher entrance thresholds for entrants into China’s fintech industry, making it more difficult for smaller players. It comes after China’s P2P lending industry saw increasing default rates earlier this year. In May, 10 P2P lending platforms were considered to be “in trouble”—unable to pay back investors or under investigation for economic crimes. That number increased to 63 in June and 163 at the end of July. The defaults resulted in some investors losing millions in savings.